Jogger mistaken for gunman, causing Souderton school lockdown

Police greet parents picking up their children at West Broad Street Elementary School in Souderton after the school went into a lock-down from a reported armed subject in the proximity of the Lions Gate Community Thursday, Jan. 10,2013. (Photo by Mark C. Psoras\The Reporter)

SOUDERTON — What started with a report by three West Broad Street Elementary School fourth-graders at recess that they’d seen a man in a tree-lined area next to the school with a firearm, wearing dark clothes and a ski mask turned out to be a jogger who didn’t have a gun and who was wearing a hood.

Still, authorities said after the Thursday afternoon incident that brought more than 50 police officers rushing to the scene, the response was the right thing.

“We want to praise the young people for looking at perhaps a danger, seeing it, doing what they were taught to do. The teachers did what they were supposed to do. The principal did,” Fred Johnson, Souderton Area School District superintendent, said. “We’re glad it worked out to the outcome it did.”

The school had just had a lockdown drill last Tuesday, he said, and the Jan. 10 incident showed the effectiveness of the district’s crisis plan.

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“We’ve used it too many times, it seems, but it works well,” Johnson said.

The students saw the man around 1:30 p.m. and immediately notified the staff, after which the police were called and the school went into lockdown, Franconia Township Police Department Chief Joseph Kozeniewski said.

“Within minutes, we had numerous officers from the Franconia Township Police Department as well as surrounding neighboring departments and then second response from departments farther out,” Kozeniewski said.

Kozeniewski said he’s not sure what made the students think the man had a gun. Officers searching the neighborhood spotted the man’s shirt outside the home where he’d left it after returning from the jog, spoke to the man and came to the conclusion he was the person the students saw, Kozeniewski said.

“We’re fairly confident that the children did mistake this man for what they thought was an armed person; however, I want to praise these three young people for doing the right thing,” Kozeniewski said. “They weren’t sure. They said something didn’t look right and they did the right thing by reporting it immediately to their teachers.”

He estimated 50 to 75 officers, including about 30 with the North Penn Tactical Response Team, were at the scene.

“At approximately 1:40 p.m. today, West Broad Street Elementary School was placed on lockdown, because a suspicious individual was observed at a distance from the playground. The local police were notified, and have taken charge of the search for the individual. At this time the students are safe in their classrooms with their teachers, and we are awaiting the all-clear from the police,” Marianne Boyd, the school’s principal, wrote in an email to parents Thursday afternoon. “We anticipate a normal dismissal, and will communicate any further developments as they arise.”

Dismissal time ended up being at 3:40 p.m., about 20 minutes later than usual, Kozeniewski said.

Both Kozeniewski and Johnson said there will be debriefings to review the procedures used in the incident.

“It ended up being a drill, but a very real drill,” Johnson said.

“This gave us a good assessment of how quick our response is; how quick we can get a tactical team formed,” Kozeniewski said.

Parents and teachers will also address the incident with students and additional resources will be made available for students if needed, Johnson said.

There’s always the possibility that things such as an attack or bus accident can happen at the schools, Johnson said.

“We have to set that aside a tad so that we can function every day,” he said. “But it never, ever leaves our mind that something like this is going to occur.”